Page 1 of Nothing Without You

CHAPTER 1

CHYNA

Today was just one of those shitty ass days, and it was only seven in the damn morning. My eyes popped open this morning, not because of my peaceful alarm I had carefully selected so I didn’t wake up in panic and disarray every day. No. This morning started with the sound of Liam, my three-year-old son, dropping an entire carton of milk on the floor. He was at the age where he thought he was a big boy and could make his own breakfast. No matter how many times I told him he needed to wait for Mommy, he didn’t quite grasp it.

After cleaning up after him and his attempt at making his own breakfast of cereal and a piece of bread, I bathed him and then took a shower. Now, I scrambled to put my shoes on in my cramped bedroom when Liam ran into the room.

“Mommy!”

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked as I put my earrings on in the full-length mirror hanging off the back of my closet.

“I want a baby sister,” he announced.

My brows scrunched and my lip turned up. “Not a chance,” I muttered.

“What, Mommy?” Liam asked innocently, and I sighed.

After making sure my thirty-inch waves were perfect and my lip gloss and lash clusters looked good against my mahogany skin, I turned to look at my son. His face was so sweet, I couldn’t help but shake off the negative energy I felt looming in the air. Something bad was going to happen today. I could feel it.

“Okay, Bear, I hear you.” He loved when I called him Bear. I’d been calling him that since he was a day old because he was always so damn cuddly.

He beamed. “I can have a sister?”

“I said I hear you. I didn’t say I could give you a sister.”

His cute little face balled up into a pout. Those big brown eyes framed by long lashes that I loved so much pierced my heart. “Why not?”

“The stork is fresh out of babies at the moment, Bear. Sorry.”

He looked up at the ceiling, like he thought really hard about what I said. Finally, he shrugged and said, “I try again tomorrow.”

With that, he ran full speed out of the room. I didn’t know what it was with that kid and running, but he didn’t seem to understand that walking was an option.

I sighed as I stood up and checked myself over once again. My thick thighs were covered by a gray pencil skirt. The white blouse I wore covered my large breasts and stomach, that could be flatter and a little more toned, but that my sister and cousins constantly told me was one they would kill for.

“Bear, grab your backpack and let’s get ready to go!” I called out as I exited my room.

My home was small, but it was perfect for me and Liam. We lived on the bottom floor of a duplex, and I paid a little extra every month for the backyard. The upstairs tenants, who were a young couple with no kids, didn’t want the backyard, so they paid less in rent. It worked out for me because I got to provide Liam with a place to play outside, which I felt was important. Growing up, all I had was my imagination and the damn outdoors. Although, my outdoors looked a lot different from Liam’s. When I was young, I had to watch out for crackheads and dope boys while being careful not to step in a puddle of piss or on a broken crack pipe or condoms.

Liam had it pretty good. We didn’t live in the biggest house or the best neighborhood, but it was clean, and the people were nice.

When I made it to the front door, Liam was there with his blue backpack that was almost bigger than him, looking like he was up to no good.

“What are you up to?” I asked suspiciously as I grabbed my purse and keys.

“Nothing, Mommy.”

My eyes narrowed. “Open your backpack, sir.”

Liam’s eyes widened innocently. “We go, Mommy. KJ waiting for me.”

I shook my head and pointed at his bag. “Open.” Dramatically, he let his backpack fall forward, and I leaned over and grabbed it. When I opened it, I was horrified to find my black lacey bra inside. “Liam! Why do you have this?”

I held it up with my brows damn near up to my hairline.

Looking down at his shoes, Liam kicked his foot back and forth as he mumbled, “Superhero mask.”

“Excuse me?”